“Built upon the bones of fairy tales, legends, and ghost stories, this dark and lush collection offers up a fresh exploration of the human condition through the lens of the fantastic.”—A.C. Wise, author of Ballad of the Bone Road

“These stories, in the deft hand of Micah Dean Hicks, combine the grit of rural living with the soaring speculation of the fabulous. Writing in the rich vein of greats like Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, and Kelly Link, Hicks grants us entrée into complex ruminations on poverty and well-being, queerness, gender, and all of the bloody, beating moments that shape the human heart.”—Joe Baumann, author of Tell Me

“Each of Micah Dean Hicks’s short stories is a thin slice of heart perfectly preserved in prose, so that this collection is like a beautifully arranged charcuterie tray of the human experience. You won’t know whether to savor each beautiful and insightful morsel or to devour them all in a blaze of feeling. Compelling, powerful, unsettling, and gorgeous—this is must-read fiction from a major talent.”—Wendy N. Wagner, author of Girl in the Creek and The Deer Kings